


Coffee Date

by strawberrylace



Category: Arctic Monkeys
Genre: F/M, Fluff, it takes place in a coffee shop, it's cute and all so there's that, sorry it's kinda dumb too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-23
Updated: 2015-07-23
Packaged: 2018-04-10 19:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4403801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylace/pseuds/strawberrylace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt Helders works at a coffee shop; a very short story</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee Date

**Author's Note:**

> just some fluff I wrote really late one night because i had a daydream about this one time. I'm sorry it's so meh!

“Hi! Welcome to Café La Mode!” 

I sound like a mouse every time I greet a customer. My god, why do I put myself through this working here? Okay, I gotta hold it together, I tell myself. She’s the last customer of the night and then I can go home and enjoy the rest of my night. 

I have to list off all the reasons why I am stuck working at a snooty coffee house as I am taking this soccer mom’s order down. Number one, it’s only temporary while I figure out what to do after Uni. Number two, it’ll be worth the money I earn for that trip to New York City. Number three…

“Oi! What was that other order again?” 

My head turns along with my ponytail to the guy with the beautiful blue eyes, who is currently blending the drinks. I forget where I’m at and I smile broadly. 

“An Americano…hold the whip,” I say. 

Number three, Matt Helders. I could forget about reasons one and two because if I didn’t have Matt working beside me, I would’ve quit this job a long time ago. I met Matt a year ago when I first started working at Café La Mode. He had only been working there for three months at that point. He was the one who showed me the ropes around the place. But then we became fast friends, sharing an interest in Queens of the Stone Age and 90’s films. Matt made the work day go by so much faster when he was around. 

“Here you are Miss. One Americano and one Vanilla Latte to go!” 

The lady ignored Matt’s friendly smile, talking away on her phone as she grabbed the drinks and walked briskly out the door. She didn’t even bother leaving a tip. That’s fine. I’ll live with it. 

“You see her?” Matt asks, pointing at her from the window. “Couldn’t take a moment to put her phone down to say thank you…People these days…” 

“Matt, don’t beat yourself up over it,” I tell him. “Besides, if she decides to come back here, we can always write ‘Voldemort’ on her cup.” 

“Shhh!” Matt covers up my mouth as I try to hold in my giggles. “Do you want to get in trouble with the Ministry of Magic?” 

He uncovers my mouth but I still can’t stop my giggles. Every day I work with him doesn’t even feel like work. We get the job done but we also like to goof off with the customers, writing down fictional characters on the orders depending on how nice the customer is to us. The nicer, the better the character. Sometimes, we’ll switch up the music we play in the coffee shop, from the sleepy acoustic music our store insists on us playing to something more fun. I remember one time I switched the music to Bruce Springsteen and played that for a whole hour. While the customers really dug the tunes, our boss was not as amused when he came in. 

With Matt, I am so comfortable around him. I don’t have to pretend to be something I’m not. He likes me just the way I am. I like him a lot, can you tell? As much as I would like to ask him out on a date, I can’t bring myself to it. No, I’m not waiting for him to make the move first. I’m just waiting for the right moment to do it. 

“Hey Matt, isn’t it your turn to pick the music today?” I ask him, straighten up the straws behind the counter out of boredom. 

“It sure is,” says Matt. “And I’ve got something you’ll really enjoy!” 

He shows me a blank CD. He puts the CD into the player and pushes play. At first I hear the strumming of the guitar and then the drums come in. I hear vocals that sound distinctly familiar. I try to think of where I had heard those vocals before and then a lightbulb comes on. I turn to Matt and smile broadly. I feel like a proud parent witnessing their child perform for the first time and being amazed at how talented they are. 

“Matt!” I say excitedly. “Your band sounds amazing! YOU sound amazing!” 

Matt folds his arms and nods. “Good enough for the label we just signed to?” 

I gasp. “Matt, really?” I go in for a hug. “This is so…big! I can’t believe you guys are finally doing it!” 

Matt keeps hugging me. I love the way he hugs me. They’re so warm and comforting. Sometimes if I’ve been dealing with nothing but awful customers all day, Matt will just open his arms up and give me a hug. A few minutes later, I’m feeling better. Something about this hug feels a bit bittersweet. It feels like a goodbye hug rather than a congratulations hug. 

I let him go and step back. 

“Matt…does this mean…?” I ask, afraid to know the answer. 

Matt shuffles his feet and looks down on the ground. He doesn’t want to say it. He knows it’s going to crush me if he says it. My real reason for staying at this coffee shop was him. If I didn’t have him, why would I even bother coming into work in the first place? I’m trying to be happy. I want to be happy for him. I’m doing all that I can to fake it for him. 

“I leave tomorrow morning for Los Angeles,” Matt tells me. “Tonight was my last shift.” 

My heart sank. I am trying so hard to be happy for him but it’s crushing for me. I should just ask him out now but what good would that do to me? I realize that I’ve blown it. I waited way too long to ask him out and, just as I was finally mustering up my courage, he’s leaving me. What are the odds? 

Matt’s left to go collect his things. It’s just me left to close up the shop now. I’m okay with that. I need some time to process all this. As I finish cleaning up, he’s helped me lock up the place and he offers to walk me back home. The walk home is long and quiet, despite it being a five minute walk from my flat. We don’t say anything until we get to the foot of my steps. It’s Matt who breaks the silence. 

“I’m gonna come back, ya know. I don’t know how long we’ll be there and all but I’m gonna come back.” 

My eyes are on the ground. I can’t cry in front of him now. Not when he’s telling me that this isn’t a goodbye forever ordeal. I just nod my head. 

“I’ll come back to the café. I promise, I’ll come back for you.” 

Before he goes, Matt gives me a small peck on the cheek. I watch him walk away as I am rubbing my cheek. I sit alone on the front step, thinking about what could have been between us. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been two and a half months and I haven’t heard back from Matt. I still work at the coffee shop and it’s been alright. I never realized how long the days were when I didn’t have Matt there. I miss him every day and I wish he would come back to work here. 

It’s closing time and my last customer has just left. I go check all the tables and clean up whatever mess is left. It’s not too bad. There’s a napkin here and there. I think someone didn’t finish their drink. I throw away the last of the garbage and I hear the door open. I hate it when people come into the café at the last minute. Don’t people have any respect? 

“Sorry, we’re closing now,” I say. “Can you come back-“ 

I turn around and my jaw nearly drops. Two and a half months later and there he is. He’s back. He promised he would come back to the café and he did. Matt kept true to his word. 

His skin looked a little golden from the California sun and his blue eyes seemed to sparkle more than usual. His dark hair looked nice slicked back too. He was holding two coffee cups and carried them over to me. I run over to him and wrap my arms around him. He spins me around and kisses me on the cheek.

“Matt! You’re back! Oh, how I’ve missed you!” I say excitedly. 

“I told you I’d be back, didn’t I?’ Matt smiled, setting the cups down on a table. “Now that you’ve closed up, I was hoping that perhaps we could have a proper date here? Seeing as how I was a bloody idiot to not take you out before I left, I want to make it up to you.” 

My heart is fluttering. This moment was playing out much better than I had imagined it all in my head. We talked about everything from California to back home and everything in between. It was like we were picking up right back where we started before he left. I couldn’t have asked for a much better night.


End file.
